1. Field of the Invention
The instant invention concerns a system for fixing a shoe to a sports gear, especially a gliding sport, such as cross-country skiing, touring, telemark skiing, ice skating or roller skating.
2. Description of Background and Relevant Information
In traditional fixing systems, i.e., bindings, of the type used in cross-country skis, the fastening of the shoe on the sports gear is generally obtained at the front thereof by means of a hinge type of coupling which allows the shoe to have a clearance with respect to the sports gear, i.e., the heel can be lifted.
Ice skates or roller skates are also known to possess a journalled coupling of the shoe with the sports gear, thereby allowing the stride to be lengthened and the speed to be increased.
Such coupling systems have proven themselves. However, their drawback is that the shoe sole has to be both rigid in the transverse direction and during torsion, while also remaining flexible enough to allow, insofar as possible, the foot to move naturally.
Since these requirements are contradictory and difficult to reconcile on one single element, the ski is not always controlled and guided in an optimum manner.
On the other hand, shoes belonging to such systems generally comprise a transverse axis located at the sole front end which can become a hindrance while walking.
Identical problems are encountered in other fields, especially skating.
Document WO 96/23558 proposes coupling the shoe front part, up to the zone known as the metatarsophalangian joint, by means of an elastic element anchored at one end to the fixing element, and that is fastened, by its free end in the shoe sole, at the rear of the zone. This elastic element provides the shoe with the desired stiffness characteristics transversely and in torsion, and at the same time exerts a constant return force of the shoe towards the sports gear. The result is an improved control and guidance of the sports gear.
Nonetheless, this elastic element is subjected to substantial fatigue and rapid wear due to the repeated bending of the foot during the sporting activity, such that the stiffness and elastic return properties indicated hereinabove become altered over time.
The object of the instant invention is to overcome these drawbacks and propose an improved fixing device that reconciles the problems of the lifting of the shoe heel, torsional control and material fatigue.
This object is achieved in the fixing device of the system according to the invention which is of the type comprising a front stop cooperating with the shoe front end, and an elastic catch cooperating with the sole associated catch arranged behind the sole front end, and exerting on the sole a tension pressure towards the stop, due to the fact that the elastic catch is anchored on the fixing device at the rear of the front stop.
This construction leads to a substantial reduction in the bending stresses of the elastic catch which, as a result, is less prone to wear by reason of fatigue, and furthermore exerts a more constant tension pressure and elastic return pressure.
According to a preferred embodiment, the anchoring mechanism of the elastic catch is longitudinally mobile countering the elastic mechanism. This construction guarantees that when the shoe bends, the return elasticity will preferably be provided by the compression of the elastic mechanism rather than by the bending of the catch. Consequently, the return elasticity can be better controlled.
Also, the anchoring of the elastic catch is advantageously constituted by a journal, which allows it to remain completely free of any bending related energy.